What message do we send to boys if men punching women is sport?

LENNOX LEWIS and Naseem Hamed are calling for a ban on women fighting men for money in the ring.

Britain's world champion boxers are alarmed by the message which these gruesome mixed matches are sending out to a violent society cursed by wife-beating.

Nor are they happy with girls like Muhammad Ali's daughter Laila risking long-term physical damage by fighting other women, although they accept that it may be impossible to prohibit all-female boxing in this age of political correctness.

Hamed and Lewis have spoken out following Margaret McGregor's precedent-setting four rounds of boxing against a Chinese-Canadian man, Loi Chow, in Seattle on the October weekend when Laila Ali made her professional debut here.

Ms McGregor's points win has been hailed by some misguided feminists as an emancipating victory but Lewis said: 'If this is not illegal, it should be.

'Outside the ring, men are locked up for abusing women and quite right too.

So how can something which we're trying to remove from our society suddenly be classified as sport?

'This is a retrograde step for women. It also sets a disastrous example to youngsters everywhere.

'The majority of parents tell their sons that it's wrong to hit females.

But what are boys to think when they turn on their televisions and see men punching women in the boxing ring?

'Inevitably, a lot of them will think they can go out to hit little girls.

It's an easier way for them to get their kicks than fighting each other.'

Hamed is equally strident on the controversy, saying: 'There shouldn't even be a discussion. Women fighting men should not be allowed.

'A man who hits a woman is the lowest of the low. There's no excuse for it in any circumstances.

'It's morally and ethically wrong. It's incredible to me that they can even find a man to step into the ring against a woman, no matter how much he's getting paid.' As two of Britain's wealthiest sportsmen - each estimated to be worth well in excess of Pounds 20million - their collective protest will carry huge influence.

The pair have been watching the rise of the female boxing phenomenon from the training camp they have been sharing in the Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania.

Both are concerned about the harm that the women may inflict on themselves and on the sport.

Hamed, as a devout Moslem, is most uneasy about women boxing at all.

He said: 'It may be within the law but, even if it's done within strict rules, it's not a good idea.

'Women are different from men. That's a biological fact.

Their bodies are different.

Their breasts and female organs are delicate and vulnerable.

'Boxing is dangerous enough as it is without women putting themselves at special risk.

'God gave woman the wonderful gift of motherhood and all my natural instincts tell me this precious state should be protected.

'I'm deeply worried that women who go into the ring will end up childless and

'It's morally and ethically wrong. It's incredible to me that they can even find a man to step into the ring against a woman, no matter how much he's getting paid.' As two of Britain's wealthiest sportsmen - each estimated to be worth well in excess of Pounds 20million - their collective protest will carry huge influence.

The pair have been watching the rise of the female boxing phenomenon from the training camp they have been sharing in the Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania.

Both are concerned about the harm that the women may inflict on themselves and on the sport.

Hamed, as a devout Moslem, is most uneasy about women boxing at all.

He said: 'It may be within the law but, even if it's done within strict rules, it's not a good idea.

'Women are different from men. That's a biological fact.

Their bodies are different.

Their breasts and female organs are delicate and vulnerable.

'Boxing is dangerous enough as it is without women putting themselves at special risk.

'God gave woman the wonderful gift of motherhood and all my natural instincts tell me this precious state should be protected.

'I'm deeply worried that women who go into the ring will end up childless and regretting what they've done.' Since her initial victory - a ghoulish knockout of a tubby waitress - Laila Ali has been negotiating a February appearance in England.

Lewis said: 'On the issue of women fighting women in this age of equality, I basically plead the Fifth Amendment.

'I will say that I don't know anybody who likes watching women box.

'Most of them have no idea and the slapping and pushing and hair-pulling is in more or less the same league as a circus act or mud-wrestling.

'Then we have a Playboy centrefold girl who is really only putting on a peep show.

'There are a couple of women out there who box more like men but therein lies a very real danger. When they fight the others there's a serious risk of women getting badly hurt.

'Boxing doesn't need that.

Not with its image problem at the moment. Not when Naz and I are doing our best to bring back respect for the game.' The two of them were speaking on Hamed's last day in camp before heading for Detroit, where he arrived at a glitzy mayoral reception in a limousine cavalcade.

The self-styled Prince's world featherweight championship unification fight against Cesar Soto in the Motor City this Friday night is the start of an important few weeks for boxing.

Hamed needs to impress his HBO television paymasters and excite a wider American public which has become jaded with boxing.

Twenty-four hours later, Las Vegas will stage the latest of Mike Tyson's comebacks, with the big-fight fraternity hoping he can regenerate much of his ferocious punching power and, with it, his formidable attraction at the box office.

Tyson the heavyweight contender is more important to boxing than Tyson the ear-biting freak.

Lewis will be closely watching his performance against the solid journeyman Orlin Norris on Saturday night.

Lewis is preparing for November 13 rematch of his controversial draw with rival world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield.

That in itself is an event vital to boxing's future and Lewis is hoping not only that he emerges as the undisputed champion but that Tyson will have performed credibly enough to justify himself as the first challenger of the new millennium.